Garrigues in Latin America: a step ahead – Javier Ybañez discusses the firm’s international position.

We would like to think that staying one step ahead is one of Garrigues’ hallmarks – one of our obsessions. Garrigues was the first Spanish law firm to become an institutional organisation and leave behind the traditional model of an inherited family business to become a firm owned purely on merit, and this some decades before our competitors chose the same route.

Being the first to take such a difficult step is probably what instilled our enduring pioneering spirit. Many years ago we were the first major Spanish law firm to open an office in New York and, more recently, the first to publish a corporate social responsibility report. To some extent, this background has undoubtedly driven us to be the first major Spanish law firm to open its own offices in the principal Latin American cities.

They say that the law doesn’t travel well, but lawyers do. In fact, we believe they excel at it. Our experience has shown us through the different stages of our international expansion that this has never been more true.

While there are naturally great differences between, for instance, Portuguese law and Colombian law, the best techniques for providing added value to the client, the culture of service, the need to be close to our clients and our quest for excellence are all values that know no jurisdiction – values that are astonishingly similar in all cities in which Garrigues provides services through its own offices.

‘The integration of Latin American markets and the growing importance and development of the Pacific Alliance are indisputable realities.’

We are convinced that Garrigues has a lot to contribute, particularly in the Latin American market. This belief and the similarities in terms of language and culture have been the driving force behind the firm’s solid commitment in recent years to opening offices in the main Latin American cities, regardless of the degree of consolidation and maturity of the different legal markets, which are markedly different.

By way of example, English-speaking law firms have a significant presence in Mexico, given its close proximity to the US, but are notably less present in the other markets in the region.

However, probably due to the cultural differences and the fact that their legal systems are structured around radically different principles, the penetration of English-speaking law firms in Mexico is much shallower than it might first appear, presenting a clear opportunity for a firm like Garrigues. Unlike other law firms, Garrigues does not operate under a franchise in Mexico City. It has opened an office that aspires to be one of the benchmark players in the Mexican legal market – an opportunity for the best professionals to foster the firm’s culture of value creation and client focus in the city.

In other countries, foreign law firms still have a fairly minor presence, although outfits like Garrigues are becoming increasingly common.

Natural evolution: consolidation and institutionalisation

The integration of Latin American markets and the growing importance and development of the Pacific Alliance are indisputable realities. The expansion of the geographical scope of our clients’ operations and the economic development of the region mean that transactions are becoming increasingly complex, subject to different and ever more sophisticated legislative frameworks.

This reflects a clear trend towards the consolidation of law firms and not just due to the arrival of foreign firms. Clients increasingly require lawyers with greater expertise in the Latin American jurisdictions. Market operators need advice from multidisciplinary firms with expert lawyers capable of offering fast and effective solutions, advisers who are strategic partners, reputable firms that can be trusted and with which longstanding relationships can be forged.

Another unstoppable trend is the institutionalisation of law firms, as has occurred in other markets.

Clients demand organisations made up of the best professionals that know how to fight for talent, to attract, retain and foster the professional development of the most brilliant lawyers. The firm’s transformation into an institution, the establishment of transparent and defined career plans, and the merit-based ownership structure is the strategy with the best chance of success in this battle for the best lawyers. It is a question of moving towards a business model that allows firms to be more competitive.

‘Our aim is for our clients in Bogotá to see the same degree of proximity and dedication in our Colombian lawyers as our clients in Barcelona do.’
Javier Ybañez, Garrigues

We believe Garrigues has much to contribute on both fronts. For this reason, in mid-2013, after having operated in Latin America for almost a decade through an alliance with various Latin American firms, Garrigues embarked upon a project to develop its own legal practice in Latin America.

Until then, the major Spanish law firms had limited themselves to having correspondents in Latin America, or forming part of alliances that included members located in Latin America.

Garrigues chose to remain true to its heritage, to be a pioneer and contribute to the development of the Latin American legal market by opening up its own offices in Bogotá, Lima and Mexico City. Garrigues directly bet its name and its prestige on these offices, where the lawyers are Garrigues professionals, just like the lawyers at its offices in Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon or any other city in which the firm has an office.

There are many reasons that drove us to take this step. Probably the main reason was our dedication to excellent service. There are many good, even brilliant, lawyers in the cities where Garrigues has opened its own offices. However, we think that Garrigues as a firm can offer a better service. We want to be the firm of choice in Bogotá, in Lima, in Mexico City and in all other cities in the region with an office bearing our name.

We want to export our culture of service as well as the techniques developed at other offices. Our aim is for our clients in Bogotá to see the same degree of proximity and dedication in our Colombian lawyers as our clients in Barcelona do. Not only that, we want to ensure that knowledge, experience and best practices can flow in a global and integrated firm, taking a step away from concepts such as alliances, franchises or best-friend arrangements.

We are certain that by offering the same quality of service as that received by clients at our European offices, we will be able to make a major contribution to the Latin American legal market and to our clients there. We believe that opening up our own offices is the only way to ensure uniform standards and excellence across all of our services, and for all of our clients, to ensure that clients in Bogotá that engage Garrigues receive the same innovative solutions as we offer in project finance or M&A deals in Madrid. This is also a way of creating value for our clients.

However, it is not simply a question of applying uniform standards across all jurisdictions as regards the quality of work and response times of our professionals: we need to export our dedication to service, our quest for excellence, our close working relationships, our client commitment and our respect for the ethical and professional standards that our clients rely on when choosing Garrigues.

Furthermore, we seek to optimise the experience gained in the ever more diverse jurisdictions in which we are present: we want all of our offices to simultaneously share their experiences, diversity and international outlook.

The road ahead

After reaching the decision to practice local law in Latin America in May 2013, we opened our first office in Bogotá, followed by our offices in Lima and Mexico City, joining Garrigues’ foreign law office in São Paulo, which opened for business in 2011. These offices will be joined by others across the region.

A great many challenges lie ahead: we need to ensure that our expansion is built on a solid foundation, since all of our clients and professionals should benefit from our growth, the quality of our advice must always meet our expectations and those of our clients, our ethical standards must not be compromised in any way and, above all, we cannot let our expansion into more locations come at the expense of neglecting any client.

Next steps

To tackle these challenges, our strategy is two-fold: first of all, to attract and retain the best professionals in their respective areas. In our business, talent is key and the firm’s ownership structure, our transparent and defined career paths, our permanent contact with universities through teaching collaborations and internship programmes, our international training plans and our increasing commitment to ensuring our lawyers achieve the right work/life balance are our main competitive advantages.

Secondly, by instilling Garrigues’ corporate culture in all our professionals, at the same time as our professionals actively participate and contribute to the creation of this culture, allowing the unique characteristics of each jurisdiction to enrich the firm’s culture. Garrigues is a team of tax and legal professionals that is enhanced, as an organisation, by each new member that joins.

Based on these two pillars, our next steps in Latin America are:

• To be the law firm of choice in those Latin American countries in which Garrigues has an office.

• To stay close to our clients, remaining alert in order to anticipate their needs and set ourselves apart from our competitors by providing excellent service and offering solutions that create the most value.

• To incorporate the latest technologies. Garrigues is a firm believer that the only way to remain true to its tradition of excellence in service is to know how to harness the advantages offered by new technologies, which means we must be constantly prepared to identify and implement technological solutions that create the most value for our clients, and contribute to the professional development of our people.